The arrest came after he allegedly published tweets which the authorities claim supported the banned PKK and because he wrote a piece for the opposition newspaper Cumhurryet.

Ahmet had previously been detained for having written that the Turkish state had been infiltrated by the Fethullah Gülen movement.

IFJ President Philippe Leruth said: "Instead of being arrested he should have received a press award as the authorities claim the Gulen movement was behind the attempted coup. He is instead in custody.

"Once again, press freedom is under pressure in Turkey, and the Turkish authorities show they are not trying to save Turkish democracy, but willing to reinforce an authoritarian power. Like all other imprisoned Turkish journalists, whose work is criminalized, Ahmet Sik must be released immediately and without any conditions"

ABOUT IFJ

The International Federation of Journalists is the world's largest organisation of journalists. First established as the Fédération Internationale des Journalistes (FIJ) in 1926 in Paris, it was relaunched as the International Organization of Journalists (IOJ) in 1946, but lost its Western members to the Cold War and re-emerged in its present form in 1952 in Brussels. Today the Federation represents around 600.000 members in more than 140 countries across the world. The IFJ promotes international action to defend press freedom and social justice through strong, free and independent trade unions of journalists.